Mouthguards provide a vital role in ensuring the safety of athletes and the use of mouthguards has become highly recommended for any athlete who plays a sport involving physical contact such as American football. The known risk of oral injury to teeth, mouth, gums and jaw associated with contact sports has driven the market for mouthguards among athletes who play contact sports. Recent research has shown that the use of a mouthguard can also reduce the risk of brain trauma, better known as concussion. Often the use of a mouthguard is mandated by an athletic association, league or team to qualify to compete in a particular sport.
Over the years, the mouthguard has seen some design changes to enhance the oral safety and protection of an athlete. But one thing has not changed over the years. Since the invention of the mouthguard, there are still only two basic types of mouthguards on the market. One that is designed to be tethered to a helmet with a strap connecting it to the faceguard or facemask, and one that is non-tethered that has no designed means of securing it to a helmet.
Consequently, based on today's athletic mouthguard market, an athlete has only one choice if they want a mouthguard that can be secured to a helmet during participation in a sporting event when it is not in their mouth. Unfortunately, if an athlete chooses a non-tethered mouthguard with no designed means of securing it to a helmet they are left to improvise a means to secure the mouthguard when not in use.
Because the majority of athletes today choose to use a non-tethered type of mouthguard, there is a great need for new means to secure these types of mouthguards when not in use during a game or at practice. Using a non-tethered mouthguard leaves athletes with only several undesirable options to secure it when it is out of their mouth, for example; the athlete either wedges the mouthguard between the helmet surface and a bar of the facemask, wedges it between two bars of the facemask, stuffs it inside their belt or sock, puts it behind their ear, leaves it in their mouth and chews on it, or they simply hold it in their hand. Unfortunately, all the options an athlete has to secure a non-tethered mouthguard are driven by necessity—not by design. Therefore, what is needed in field is a mouthguard holder which is able to secure an un-tethered mouthguard to the surface of a helmet thereby providing a safe and effective means for athletes to temporarily store their mouthguards when not in use.